LATE COMMERCIAL.

Evening Star, Issue 11676, 7 February 1902, Page 4

LATE COMMERCIAL.

THE WOOL SALES. Messrs Dalgety and Co. have received the following cable from their head office, dated London, sth inst.: —“Wool sales closed firm and active, with brisk competition. As compared with last sales dose merino and fine cross-bred wools are 6 per cent, higher, medium and coarse crossbred wools higher by 10 per cent, slip** at par to 5 per cent, higher. Out of the net quantity available for sale some 92,000 bales have been sold for home consumption, 77,000 bales for the Continent, 8,000 bales for America, leaving IS,OOO bales to be carried forward to the next series.” The firm add: The above cable is very satisfactory, as the cany-forward is small, being 80,000 bales less than at the same series last year. We hold our next sale in Dunedin on the 27th inst., when it is expected that the catalogue will be large and representative. *

THE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND. WELLINGTON. February 7, The half-yearly meeting of the Bank of New Zealand was held to-day, but there was a snail attendance. The Chairman (Mr F. C. De Malct) explained that the meeting was held merely to comply with the requirements of the Act, and no accounts would be preaented. tie assured the meeting without hesitation that, compared with tire figures of the corresponding period twelve months _ boot, there was a satisfactory increase in the volume of business, and that the profits for the half-year just closed had been fully maintained. There was no reason to suppose that the current half-year would prove less satisfactory, though in the matter of deposits it was only reasonable that with less money coming to the colony (by reason of the low prices of some of our chief products), current accounts might not show as well as at March last. However, it was useless to prophesy, as the actual figures would be laid before _ the annual meeting. Tho Abnormal condition of wool market required serious consideration, and it behoved the management of the Bank to carry on their business with caution. He pointed out that the industries of the colony were varied, and it was rarely that all the products of the colony we depressed at one and the same time. When one product was depressed some other important one was the reverse. For instance, the dairy industry was sound, and despite the prose tit condition of the wool market, the clients of the Bank were in a better position to withstand depression of that marfeet than they were a year back. They had experienced a few years of prosperity, and had no doubt profited by the experience they bad gained. Moreover, the reduced value of monev had been in their favor. He had referred particularly to wool, as it was one of the staple products of the colony, and the Bank’s Executive were entrusted with the disposal of a. coflflderable proportion of that valuable item of our exports. „ The Chairman announced that Mr Martin Kennedy had been re-elected a director without opposition. Mr Kennedy, in thanking the shareholders, referred to the anomaly existing with respect to the election of directors. He said that raider the Bank’s constitution the directors or officers were not empowered to exercise proxies; therefore, while there were shareholders in England, Australia, and New Zealand, the election of directors rested practically with the shareholders resident in Wellington. Where a director obtained proxies he had to secure the services of a friend who was a shareholder to attend the meeting in order to exercise hj» right- That was an anomaly which ought to° he remedied by future legislation. He suggested that a similar system to that adopted by the A.M.P. Society, where proxies were sent to the society through the medium of the Fort Office, should be followed. He referred to previous ejections, and asked whether certain candidates were satisfied that proxVs had been exercised »s desired. Again, those sending m proxies demanded advice as to the sale or purchase of shares, and, as a director, he could only reply by quoting what the Legislature had > cided should, under certain conditions, be done with the profits. He gave it M Ms opinion, which was a non-cranmittal one, that if the earnings of ihe Bank for the current year and the next six months were maintained, there should be a dividend, and he would cast his vote m favor of declaring it. The meeting then ciosed.

THROUGH TRAINS.—PASBENQBBB THIS DAY.

FROM DUNEDIN FOB THE NORTH. Mr E. Lloyd, Mr and Mrs M Whiney, Mr Oswald Haerne. Mr, Mrs, and Miss D. M‘Leod, Mr and Mrs C. E. Leith and child, Mr F. S. Drummond, Mr A. G. Glover, Mr B. M. Miffen, Miss Majrtm, Mr A. E. MLeod. CHRISTCHURCH TOR THE SOUTH. Gland Robinson, Mr J. RuseeU, Mr and Mrs Riordan, Miss Watson, Mr S. Jones. FROM THE SOUTH FOB DUNEDIN. Mr T. Lock, Mr E. Gray, Mr G. Broadbridge, Mr W. B. Johnston, Mrs Cameron, Miss Cowie, Miss Alien, Miss Gorkin, Miss De Lautour, Mrs Mort<m and party, Mrs Field and two children, Mrs DL and chad. Mm /““j**”' Esther, Miss Hmler, Mr A. F. Mrs James Taylor, Mrs Hanley, Mr* Barker and child. FROM DUNEDIN FOR THE SOUTH. Mr E W. Reed, Mr and Mrs Allan Baker, Miss M. Stewart, Mr-and[Mrs Rivers, Mr E. Roberts Mr H D Hudson, Miss Milroy, Miss J. Mdroy, Mr G. Mackenzie, Miss